Life-saving appliance.



No. 765,274. PATENTED. JULY 19, 190

' J. M. DECKER.

LIFE SAVING APPLIANCE.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 29, 1903.

N0 MODEL. 2 SHEETS-SHEET; 1.

171156116071- 7 1 I X amcaJllonwcflaclcer N0. 765,274. PATENTED JULY 19,19-04.

J. M. DECKER.

' LIFE SAVING APPLIANCE.

APPLICATION FILED JUHI. 29, 1903. I0 HODEL. 2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

ktivm-rrwy g UNITE STATES Patented July 19, 1904.

JAMES MONROE DECKER, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

LIFE-SAVING APPLIANCE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 765,274, dated July 19,1904.

' Application filed June 29, 1903.

To aZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that LJAuns l IoNRoE DECKER, of Chicago, in the county ofCook and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and usefulImprovements in Life saving Appliances; and I do hereby declare that thefollowing is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, referencebeing had to the accompanying drawings, and to the letters of referencemarked thereon, which form a part of this specification.

This invention relates to improvements in life-preserving applicances ofthat class designed to be donned by a person when in imminent danger ofbeing cast adrift in the water; and the invention consists in thematters hereinafter set forth, and more particularly pointed out in theappended claims.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is afront view of a person equipped with myimproved life-preserving appliance. Fig. 2 is aside elevation. Fig. 3 isa rear elevation with parts shown in section. Fig. 4 is a fragmentaryview of the upper part of the body and showing the means for closing theupper front part thereof and showing in section the means for securingthe air-bags therein and the means for inflating said air-bags. Fig. 5is a fragmentary sectional view of the hood which covers the head andthe upper part of the suit, showing the collar, which fits closelyaround the persons neck. Fig. 6 is a fragmentary detail illustrating themanner of connecting the air nipples and tubes with the air-bags. Fig.

illustrates a detachable air-bag which may serve as a pillow when aperson is reclining in the water.

An appliance embodying my invention consists of a one-piece suitconsisting, in general terms, of a body portion A, leg portions B B,which terminate in integral coverings B for the feet, arm portions C C,which terminate in gloves C to cover the hands, and a hood D, which ismade to cover the sides and back of the head and is open at its frontand is permanently secured to the upper part of the suit in any suitablemanner. The suit is provided at the sides of its body portion, beneaththe arms, and at the sides of the leg portions with pockets ca 66,Within which Serial No. 163,486. (No model.)

are contained airbags E F, respectively, which are designed to beinflated after the suit is donned, so as to impart sufficient bouyancyto the suit to float the person equipped with the suit. Said suit andthe airbags may be made of any suitable flexible and light materialwhich is waterproof, such as canvas properly treated to make itwaterproof, or rubber. Between the upper part of the body portion andthe hood and located within the neck of the hood is a collar G, which islined with lambs wool or like soft yielding material and which isdesigned to surround and fit closely about the neck of the person andprevent water passing downwardly into the suit. Said collar is providedwith buttons 9 in front, by which it is fastened. The suit is alsoprovided with an opening at its front, whereby the suit may be readilydonned, and said opening is closed by buttons at, as clearly shown inFig. 4, and said opening extends from the collar G to the crotch of thegarment.

In order to prevent the entrance of water through the buttoned frontupper part of the suit, this part of the suit is designed to be coveredby a loose flexible front cover H, which is attached at its sides andbottom to the front of the body portion of the garment at the sides ofthe front opening from the neck portion thereof to the crotch. The uppermargin of said flexible front cover H is provided with a draw-string 71,which also preferably extends around the back part of the collar,whereby said flexible front cover may be closed and drawn closely aboutthe neck, as shown in Fig. 1, and thereby prevent access of water to thefront buttoned part of the garment. Said loose front cover is made ofthin material, so that when closed it lies in folds against the frontpart of the garment, and it is held closely in place by upper and lowerstraps h it, attached at their ends to the garment on each side of saidcover, and provided with buckles, by which the same are adjusted overthe folded cover. By said straps the garment may be fitted closely tothe body of the person.

The air-bags are provided with nipples e f,

respectively, which extend through the walls of the pocket and throughthe walls of the air-bags. The nipples f of the lower airbags areconnected by tubes F with nipples f, located adjacent to the nipples ofthe upper air-bags, whereby all of the air-bags may be inflated withoutthe necessity of the person assuming an unnatural position. Said tubes Fare detachably connected at their upper and lower ends with the uppernipples f and the lower nipples f, as clearly shown in Fig. 6, wherebyshould said tube become ruptured or deteriorated it may be replacedwithout removing the nipples f f.

Any suitable means may be employed for inflating the air-bags. I haveshown in Fig.

7 1 an air-bulb I for this purpose, having a tube 1, which is providedat its end remote from the bulb with a tapered tip 11', adapted to fitthe tapered openings of the nipples e f. It is desirable that theinterfitting connections between said tube and nipples be made tapering,so that they may be readily fitted together when the bags are to beinflated, as ordinarily this work will be done in times of emergency,when the use of a more complicated coupling device would be attendedwith inconvenience, not to mention dangerous delays which may occur.

It may be desirable in some instances to provide a detachable air-bag H,(shown in Figs. 2 and 7,) which may be attached to the back of the suit,as shown in Fig. 2, to serve as a head-rest when the person is lying onhis back in the water or which may be attached to the front part of thebody portion to serve as a support for the chest when the person islying face downward in the water. The bag H is attached to the suit bystraps h, Fig. 7, which engage buckles it" on the suit. (Shown in Fig.The air-bag may be held by the hands in front of the body to serve as arest.

for the chest.

The arrangement of the air-bags with respect to the garment may bevaried and the construction of the garment may be varied withoutdeparting from the spirit of my invention, and I do not wish to belimited to the illustrated arrangement except as hereinafter made thesubject of specific claims.

I claim as my invention- 1. A life-saving appliance, comprising a suitmade to cover the body, limbs and head, and provided at its front withan opening closed by buttons or the like, means for preventing the waterfrom entering the suit at the front opening, pockets in said suit,airbags in said pockets and means for inflating said air-bags.

2. A life-saving appliance comprising a continuous suit made to coverthe body, limbs and head, and provided at its front with an openingclosed by buttons or the like, means for preventing water from enteringthe suit at the front opening, and inflatable air-bags attached to thesuit.

3. A life saving appliance comprising a suit made to cover the body andlimbs and provided with a hood or head-piece which fits closely over thehead and with a collar just below said hood or head-piece which iscapable of being opened at its front and is provided with closingdevices, the upper part of said suit being provided with an opening andmeans for closing said opening constructed to prevent the entrance ofwater therethrough.

4. A life-saving appliance comprising a continuous suit made to coverthe body, limbs and head, a collar adapted to closely fit around theneck, said suit being provided at its front with an opening closed bybuttons or the like, means for preventing the entrance of water throughthe front of the suit, pockets in said suit, airbags contained in saidpockets and means for inflating said air-bags.

5. A life saving appliance comprising a suit designed to cover the body,limbs and the head and provided at its front with an opening which isclosed by buttons or the like, a loose flexible front attached to itsedges to the front of the body portion at each side of said frontopening and adapted to be folded over said opening with the edgesthereof drawn closely about the neck, and inflatable air-bags afiixed tosaid suit.

6. A life saving appliance comprising a suit designed to cover the body,limbs and head, inflatable air-bags affixed to said suit at the sides ofthe body portion and at the sides of the leg portions, nipples for theupper airbags opening outwardly therefrom through the front part of thesuit, nipples for the lower air-bags, and tubes detachably connected attheir lower ends with said nipples for the lower air-bags and extendingupwardly inside the suit to points near the nipples for the upperair-bags and are there connected with nipples which extend outwardlythrough the front portion of the suit.

7. A life-saving appliance comprising a continuous suit designed tocover the body, limbs and head, pockets at the sides of the body portionand at the sides of the leg portions of the suit, air-bags contained insaid pockets, nip ples for the upper air-bags opening outwardly throughthe suit, nipples for the lower airbags and tubes detachably connectedat their lower ends with said lower nipples, and which are in turnconnected at their upper ends with nipples which open outwardly throughthe body portion of the suit near the nipples for the upper bags.

8. A life-saving appliance comprising a continuous suit made to coverthe body, limbs and head, a collar adapted to closely fit around theneck, said suit being provided at its front with an opening closed bybuttons or the like, means for preventing the entrance of water throughthe front of the suit, inflatable airmy invention Iaflix my signature,in presence bags affixed to said suit at the sides of the body of twoWitnesses, this 20th day of June, A. D. portion and at the sides of theleg portions, 1903.

and an air-bag adapted to be detachablyfixed JAMES MONROE DECKER. 5 tothe upper part of .the body portion of the Witnesses:

suit to serve as a head-rest or chest-rest. A WILLIAM L. HALL,

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as GERTRUDE BRYCE.

